Should Include “Good Government” on the Don’t-Use List

(Editor’s Note: On August 18, Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, an Oakland Democrat, described a piece of legislation as a “good government bill.” In theory, all measures being approved by the Legislature are “good” or, put more neutrally, beneficial to Californians of one stripe or another. Else why would legislative time and taxpayer dollars be spent on them? And, more conclusively, when was the last time a legislator described legislation, accurately or inaccurately, as a “bad government bill.”)